THE WOODCRAFT INDUSTRY OF THE BULAWAYO-VICTORIA FALLS ROAD F. MATOSE, M. MUDHARA, P. MUSHOVE 1997 IES Working Paper 2 Funding for the study was provided by the Forestry Published by the Institute of Environmental Studies, Commission’s Research and Development Division and the University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe International Development Research Centre (EDRC (Value of Trees Project) of the Institute of Environmental Studies Institute of Environmental Studies University of Zimbabwe P OBoxMP167 Mount Pleasant HARARE Telephone: 302603 (Direct) 263-4-303211 ext. 1937 (UZ) Fax 263-4-333407 E-Mail: [email protected] All Working Papers of IES are peer reviewed. For reviewing documents in 1996 we thank: Prof M.F.C. Bourdillon, Dr C. Chiduza. Mr S. Chikandi, Dr J. Chipika, Dr J. du Toit, Mr J. Gambiza, Dr E. Kunjeku, M rM . Manda, MrsN. Madzingira, M rE. Madzudzo, Mr S. Mavi, DrB. Mukamuri, Ms C. Musvoto, Mr O. Namasasu, Dr A. Ogunmokun, Mr D. Semwayo, Ms B. Sithole. Acknowledgements The study was conducted through funds made available by the Forestry Commission's Research and Development Division and the Value of Trees Project of the Institute of Environmental Studies. The study would not have been possible without the support of the carvers along the Victoria Falls road and within Victoria Falls. Various officials from Hwange Rural District Council and curio shop owners in Victoria Falls also assisted. © Copyright 1997 by the Institute of Environmental Studies THE WOODCRAFT INDUSTRY OF THE BULAWAYO-VICTORIA FALLS ROAD F. Matose , M. Mudhara and P. Mushove 1 Forestry Research, Forestry Commission, Box HG595, Highlands, Harare 2 Department of Research and Specialist Services, Box CY594, Causeway, Harare Abstract A study was conducted along the Victoria Falls to Bulawayo Road to document the woodcraft industry. One o f the objectives was1 to analyze the rules and regulations governing wood use in the industry and the institutional arrangements around these. Secondly, the study aimed at documenting the contributions that carving makes to the local economy. Thirdly, the study focused on the ecological impact o f the industry on the local woodlands. A total of 24 markets were counted between Victoria Falls and Bulawayo with major concentrations around the tourist resorts ofHwange National Park and Victoria Falls. Monthly incomes o f carvers ranged between $42 and $4000. A total of 940 beneficiariesfrom seven markets were counted. Marketing strategies are mostly dependent on the flow o f tourists along the road. There was, little evidence for damaging impact on local woodlands resulting from the carving activities. The amount o f wood used by the carvers is equivalent to a small proportion o f the “waste” o f commercial logging companies. The study calls for the support o f this budding industry and establishing mechanisms to enhance the status and incomes from this activity on a sustainable basis. Introduction This study was conducted to describe the nature of Victoria Falls to Bulawayo Road, four large the wood carving activities along the Victoria Falls markets (in terms of the number of pieces at the to Bulawayo road. The study was initiated through market) were selected for the study. The main the demands and concerns raised by the justification for this choice was that major Indigenous Resources Division of the Forestry deforestation is more likely to be observed around Commission, the Victoria Falls Publicity the larger markets than smaller markets. Thus, Association, the Hwange Rural District Council, Mbizha, Mabale, Ndhlovu and Kusile-Kweja, the Matetsi and Gwaai Intensive Conservation being the markets with the largest number of Areas (ICAs) and the wood carvers themselves. sculptures, were studied. Five other small markets The aim of the study was to document and were then selected for study to provide a contrast analyze the nature of the woodcraft industry along with the large ones. At both the large and small the Victoria Falls to Bulawayo road. The study markets, interviews, discussions and Participatory covered: Rural Appraisal (PRA) exercises were held with a) the distribution of vending sites, the quantity the carvers and, where feasible, local leaders were of sales of sculptures per month, the sources of also included. PRA techniques used included: wood for sculpture and the nature of seasonal calendars for seasonal variation in sales,, marketing structures; wealth-ranking and pair-wise ranking for b) rules and regulations pertaining to wood use determining the status of carving in relation to in the. industry; other income generation activities; diagrams to c) the value of the industry to local communities; explore the rate of increase of newcomers to the d) the total quantity (in m3) of wood carvings at industry; and availability of wood and volume of each of the sampled markets; sales per person since 1991 in relation to five years e) the extent of deforestation attributable to wood in the future. Discussions and interviews were also carving activities by the selected markets and held with authorities in the area and the costs to the environment; and owners/managers of shops within the Victoria f) the production processes employed in the Falls urban area who are likely to be affected by industry the road-side woodcraft industry. At each market all carvings were classified Methods subjectively into three categories, namely, small, The study was conducted from March to June medium and large. A random sample consisting of 1995. Out of a total of 24 markets along the pieces from the small size category was chosen and \ \ 2 The woodcraft industry o f the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road ' \ Table 1: Sampling intensities (%) at the four large markets*. 1). The driving force which led to ________________ Small size Medium size______Large size the markets is the presence of a Kusile-Kweja 3.5 25.0 52.9 ready demand due to the movement Ndhlovu 2.3 13.9 64.3 of tourists on the road, The Mbizha 4.7 6.7 19.8 initiation of the Economic Mabale 4.8 12.5 32.1 Structural Adjustment Programme * A sampling intensity of 3.5% for the small pieces at Kusile Kweja which in the first five years has had means that 3.5% of all the small pieces at that market were actually a negative impact on employment measured. levels and real wages, has also played a role in the boom of roadside markets. Most of the the individual pieces were weighed using a 50 kg markets are concentrated between the 245 and 305 spring balance and the piece type (e.g. walking kilometre pegs around Hwange National Park, and stick) and tree species were recorded. The volumes between the 399 and 428 kilometre pegs, near of individual pieces were determined using the Victoria Falls, with the latter having a greater specific gravity values for the respective species concentration. This distribution is influenced by according to Goldsmith and Carter (1981). For the closeness to a tourist attraction, such as the medium and large size categories, random samples Hwange National Park area and the Victoria Falls. were taken and the individual pieces sampled were Both tourist areas are serviced by airports. All the assessed for an equivalent middle diameter and major vending markets are located near communal total length of piece. The volume was then areas from which the vendors come. calculated treating the piece as a cylinder The seasonal trend in volume of sales mainly characterised by the middle diameter and total depends on the South African school holidays and, length. The sampling intensities used at the to a lesser extend, the movement of overseas different market places and for the three categories tourists (Figure 2). Most sales are recorded around of carvings are presented in Table 1. the Christmas festive season. They are lowest To estimate the extent of deforestation around between February and June, excluding the Easter the market place, a square equal to 1 km2 in area, holiday period, and between September and with the market place as the centre of such square, November. was studied. Four belt transects each 30 metres The curio shops and cooperatives in Victoria wide, 1 km long and 210 metres apart were Falls largely depend on the international tourists traversed in such a way that all transects crossed for their sales. Since some of the shops in Victoria the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls main road. .All tree Falls are well established they are able to sell to a stumps within the transect were identified to particular niche of tourists, who often want their species and the basal diameter measured using sculptures freighted. The shops also have an calipers or a diameter tape at 25 cm above ground advantage in that they accept credit cards and /ovel. Notes were also made regarding natural foreign currency. The cooperative market in regeneration and any observable indicators of on­ Victoria Falls town and the roadside vendors do site carving activities. In order to distinguish not have the authority to accept foreign currency or between trees felled for carving and those felled for credit cards. other purposes, the research team was always Nevertheless, the emergence of roadside accompanied by at least two members from the woodcraft markets has had an impact on the wood respective market place. curio business of established shops in Victoria Individual tree volumes were estimated using the Falls. Some shop owners/managers reported that volume equation for Brachystegia spiciformis used by they had to shift their business to T-shirts in order Mushove (1994): to maintain their profits. Others have recorded y = e (2.34 + 2.91nS) reductions of as much as 35% in business. where y = above-ground timber biomass (m3, The Hwange Rural District Council is not over-bark); completely against the woodcraft industry but it S = stump diameter (m, over-bark, would like to ensure an orderly development.